Fake Chuck Westfall reveals identity and announces retirement

Chuck Westfall is the unassuming and authoritative head media liaison for Canon, USA. Fake Chuck Westfall however is an invented anti-hero and the surly voice behind the Fake Chuck Westfall blog, a site that variously pokes fun at Canon, Nikon and the photo industry in general.

The site came to be in 2008 after Canon started having problems with its EOS-1D Mark III, but failed to immediately resolve them to the satisfaction of customers. Since then the blog has been widely read and the real identity of the author has been a mystery.

The blog was so aggravating to Canon that the company's lawyers made the misstep of filing suit against the site in an attempt to reveal the author and shut it down. That action ended up making the satirical blog much more popular than it likely would have been on its own. So for the last six years the site has continued to operate and the author remained unknown.

That mystery was solved this weekend when Photo District News reported that Karel Donk, a resident of Suriname is the author of the site, and that Fake Chuck Westfall will end as Donk moves on to spend more time on other activities.

On his own site, Donk talks about the history of the persona and how it grew out of his frustration with a lack of reply from Canon about issues photographers were having - the same things that he was railing against on his own personal site, but to no avail. The background of the FCW persona on Donk’s blog is an interesting read, and it provides some insight on the various hurdles he faced as well as the admiration Canon fans have for the real Chuck Westfall.

Donk explains that he's moving on in part because he feels the big camera companies now know how to address issues and that there are fewer issues to address. In any case, the world of camera fanboys won’t be the same without Fake Chuck Westfall.

Comments

Beside the D800 thrash, I think the blog has been very good. Nikon has gotten thrash (D600), Canon has had their mirror problems.. but what about Sony? alpha -> NEX -> FE .. Look how bad sony's SLT is, the new mark 2 A77 will have worse ISO performance than the A6000 http://thenewcamera.com/tag/sony-a77-ii/ . How come is it so hard to make A77, with a sensor of A6000? How come is it so hard for Sony to make its A7s a 8-11FPS still camera? Sony had got some really nice stuff laying around to push Canon & Nikon, but it doesn't even attempt to step uo.

His blog was a breath of fresh air and probably among the few meaningful photo blogs around.

The naysayers here are either incapable or unwilling to accept his greatness. In any case, if you didn't enjoy his blog, you are absolutely a terrible photographer, a disgrace to your "art" or "profession" or whatever you call it. Get help.

I agree with everyone else who said: 1) never knew he existed; 2) still don't care he existed; 3) very angry, and very little to do with photography; 4) DPR has degraded their own reputation by saying anything about this hateful person.

An angry man, apparently. Unfortunately, the smoke and flames make it hard to see what he specifically wanted Canon or Nikon to deliver. Deep down under, so many people seem to crave something that is either impossible or picayune; 1) a pocket FF camera with a huge OVF, f/0.8 24-600mm pancake lens, for $300; or 2) a camera that makes some geezer feel like a teenager at the wheel of a '70 GTO.

The two companies somehow continue to make money, when camera operations for others are ailing badly. Maybe they're doing something right.

require big man to have such big heart to reveal multi billion dollar company flaws (and it proven), and willing to risk their life to warn us, future customer.. I salute you..., and thank you Dpreview for bringing this article up

Can somebody tell me how anyone gets to read blogs they do not know exist?

There are millions of blogs, 100s of millions probably, it all seems a pointless activity. Complaining here is much more likely to get companies attention as each of us individually has far more say publicly that a blog nobody can find. It is why here and on forums I cannot understand those who waste space bitching and being abusive.

Had some good points for a while (although he was needlessly vulgar in presentation). He started going off the rails a bit when he started trashing the D800 sensor and contradicting himself and not understanding normalization between resolutions and so on though. Other than at very high ISO, the D800/D600 WERE about better pixels not just more, but somehow that escaped him, although he still made the occasional point.

Alas Sony escaped his wrath, but back then they were a nobody in the DSLR market. Actually they still are a nobody in the DSLR market, with all pretenders having been driven off to mirrorless to survive.

So this seriously constitutes "news"? Maybe if he had conducted his crusade without the rampant vulgarity, the rants and many times nonsense, one might have almost taken him seriously. The internet is full of forums complaining about how various gear from various manufacturers ought to be or could be better. No one has matched "fake" for the low in conduct though. Maybe he thought he needed to take on this persona or no one would pay attention to him. I don't know many did and I myself knew nothing till a few years back someone posted a link I followed and left after a few paragraphs. If he thinks he single-handedly got Canon to make better cameras, or at least had some part in it, then he's in need of some help. I don't know why Canon tried to shut him up but I'd think it was probably in part for not wanting searches for "Canon" to lead to his vulgar tirades.

That's why I respect Fuji a lot, even though I don't own a Fuji camera (yet). They don't seem to lie and obfuscate when there's a problem like Canon and Nikon have done, and instead admit it and then fix it. Every company should be as honorable as Fuji.

Fake Chuck had me fooled. Despite the vulgarity and exaggeration I honestly thought he worked in the photo industry because so many of his comments were spot-on. But in the end, Fake Chuck was in a lonely place. Canon fans didn't want to hear the sensor in their camera was noisy and Nikon fans didn't want to hear their D600 had oil. And you know what? The top management at these companies didn't want to hear it, either.

The jury is still out on whether you can shame a company into making a better product but Fake Chuck certainly tried.

Heard about it few times but never paid any attention.What bothers me is that Canon sent lawyers to shut down the truth and there is something about Phil Askey and Amazon doing the same. Not nice at all. Truth can't be shut down and any attempts will only bite you on the ass in the end.

But what is truth? If you're a Canon fan, all L lenses are superb because, well, they're L lenses. If you're a Nikon fan the complaints about the D600 were a vicious personal attack on your favorite company.